Asean power grid integration on track: German expert

The 10-member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations look to integrate their power grids in order to take benefit from the development of renewable energy in the region. Image: Shutterstock

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Asean is on the right track towards integrating its power grid system by introducing important policies to develop clean technology especially renewable energy.

Dr Wolfgang Eichhammer, Head of Competence Centre Energy Policy and Energy Markets, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Germany, said however, bringing various direction of policies was not an easy process as it required a lot of time with numerous interaction on every level.

“Just like how the European Union (EU) had experienced, more discussions will have to take place to harmonise and realise the policies given the different technical and regulatory system of each country.

“The EU took about two to three decades to largely integrate the power grid system,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Asean Energy Business Forum 2015 here Monday.

Eichhammer said support of the Asean population was also a crucial factor on the policy harmonisation as it would change the way they lived once implementation took place.

“I would encourage Asean to change their minds and focus on the policies to further carry out their efforts on developing renewable energy resources and accelerate the implementation.

“In Germany, we had the support of the people and our neighbouring countries which encouraged us to improve faster on integrating the power grid system,” he said.